But the taste of success in the mobile space has left Google hungry. Amid mostly weak tablet efforts by OEMs, Google has opted for a bold strategy that is highly analogous to Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) approach with the Surfaceproducts -- offering a compelling array of branded options, while continuing to offer OEMs opportunity to produce their own branded product by offering licensing opportunities.

Last Monday, the Nexus family grew into a product trio -- a phone (4-inches), a mid-size tablet (7-inches), and a full-size tablet (10-inches).

One week later, Google's John Lagerling, director of business development for Android, participated in a special Q&A session with The New York Times discussing the motivation for the expanded Nexus push.

He emphasizes the need for Android to get more aggressive in tablet pricing, calling the Nexus 7/10 price points "pretty revolutionary." Pricing was a key driver of Android smartphone adoption, and higher prices on Android tablets have been a key adoption deterrent, so this makes sense.

John Lagerling, Android business director [Image Source: Pocket]

He comments, "We did really well with the Nexus 7, I feel, because nobody really pushed the envelope with seven-inch in terms of price and performance. It really proved that category. We felt the 10-inch category was overpriced and underpowered, and we wanted to see what we could do for that from our perspective."

When it comes to subsidiary Motorola, he somewhat contradicts the past commentary of other Google brass who said the acquisition wasn't just about patents, by commenting, "The way I understand it is, it’s mostly about the patents."

Asked about why Motorola was not included in this round of the Nexus lineup, he says that they have the chance to bid on each product just like the other Android partners without a featured product. When it comes to choosing OEMs he says the variety is "not so much fairness as it is to sort of work with partners who happen to be in good “phase match” with us in what we’re trying to do."

After a frustrating stall in the tablet market, Google, much like Microsoft, is finally seeing fresh life. Not content to take a second-seat to Apple, Inc. (AAPL) and second-place Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Google is finally offering hot products at alluring prices.

Mr. Lagerling summarizes, "I'll admit we’re finally much more closer to our actual vision in the past year than we have ever been."

One key issue not touched upon in the discussion is a glaring weakness of the Android market when it comes to super-HD tablets like the Nexus 10 -- a lack of super-HD-resolution apps (Apple's own selection of "Retina" iPad apps, while far from the lower resolution selection, is industry leading). Apps, of course, follow a Field of Dreams "if you build it, they will come" sort of trend, but for early adopters a smaller catalog may create headaches for Nexus 10 owners.